Take your time: Olafur Eliasson

Take your time: Olafur Eliasson

Let's start this blog off on an exciting note!

One of my favourite contemporary installation artists is finally bringing his collection of works from the past 16 years to Sydney's MCA. The show is called Take your Time and the artist is Danish born Olafur Eliasson.

I first discovered Eliasson's work back in uni whilst flipping through art books in search for new and exciting artists to build an essay out of. His work completely captivated me and I vowed to see his extraordinary installations somewhere, sometime, as soon as possible.

Skimming the line between artmaking and science, Eliasson captures and manipulates light in extraordinary spatial environments. From kaleidoscopic light shows to spaces filled with flowing water and seeping fog, he manages to evoke something at once both natural and artificial, challenging our sense of perception and environment. An installation of his that I happened upon at the Munich Kunstbau a few years ago left me gazing for over half an hour at a wall being wiped with a rainbow gradient of light, that's how mesmerised I was.

His experimental projects transform gallery spaces like I've never seen and I can't wait to see what he does with the MCA. Here he is discussing the philosophy of his work and the project Take your Time.

The Weather Project at the Tate Modern, London. Image by Istvan.

Take your time at the San Fran MoMA. Image by Jefferson.

Mediating Space - A Laboratory at the Aedes am Pfefferberg, Berlin. Photo by Republish.

Installation for The Blue Rider in the 21st Century at the Kunstbau, Munich. Image by fabianmohr.

The exhibition at the Sydney MCA opens next week, you can find more info here.

See you there!

E.